Kristine Michelle Armstrong passed away on the morning of April 21 due to a severe, prolonged asthma attack, according to her father Michael.

Armstrong was a junior in computer science and less than four months away from her 22nd birthday.

She was with close friend and former roommate of three years, Tiffany Spivey, and a cousin Friday evening when her asthma, which she was diagnosed with several years ago, intensified.

Spivey, a senior in mathematics, cautioned Armstrong should go to the doctor, but said Armstrong made light of the situation.

“The last memory I keep replaying in my head about [Kristine was of her] sitting on my floor, laughing at me and saying, ‘You keep making me laugh'” Spivey wrote in a farewell letter.

Crystal Murphy, who was a close friend of Armstrong’s from elementary school to high school, remembered her “infectious laugh” as well.

“It was this cute giggle,” Murphy, a senior in psychology at UNC-Charlotte, said. “She made me laugh even when I had no clue what I was laughing at.”

Armstrong went to the Student Health Center Saturday morning to seek treatment for the asthma attacks that kept her on her breathalyzer for 30 minutes at a time, Spivey said.

When the Student Health Center realized the magnitude of the situation, they summoned emergency medical technicians from REX hospital.

The EMTs could not find Armstrong’s pulse by the time they arrived and rushed her to the emergency room.

Armstrong’s parents and her younger sister Tina drove almost 2 hours from Laurinburg upon receiving the news that their eldest daughter and older sister was in the hospital in critical condition.

Several other family members and friends arrived upon finding out about Armstrong’s condition.

“We kept saying, ‘She’s going to be fine,'” Spivey said. “I was thinking she was going to pull through.”

Armstrong was pronounced dead around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Spivey.

Shanna Kelly, a friend and the president of the National Society for Black Engineers of which Armstrong was a member, said Spivey contacted her Saturday afternoon.

“I thought that she was joking,” Kelly, a senior in textile engineering, said.

Murphy learned of Armstrong’s passing from her mother.

“I froze and felt like I swallowed my heart,” Murphy said. “I wanted to call her a liar and tell her it wasn’t funny, but I knew she wasn’t joking.”

Doctors were unable to decisively point to any one factor as a cause of her death, Michael said.

“There wasn’t anything else that could have been done to prevent it,” Spivey said.

Family and friends remembered Armstrong’s vitality and loving nature in the wake of Saturday’s tragedy.

“[She] can be described by many as being a short, little, feisty young lady that was never afraid to speak [her] mind,” Spivey said in her letter. “[She will] keep on smiling up there in Heaven down on me and all [her] family and the rest of [her] friends, and I’ll keep going on.”

Kelly echoed Spivey by remarking on Armstrong’s vibrancy.

“Her motto was you only live once, so you might as well live it up,” Kelly said.

Murphy agreed.

“It was a party, and we were living it,” Murphy said. “I thought we were going to be [best friends forever], but now I know how long forever is.”

Armstrong’s father expressed his feelings about his daughter.

“We’re devastated by these events, but we’re not in despair,” he said.

He attributed his family’s ability to persevere through the tragedy to its strong faith in God and reminisced about his daughter.

“Kristine had the biggest heart,” he said. “She was such a kind, loving person; it made me want to be a better person.”

Armstrong’s funeral service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Jones Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Laurinburg, N.C.